Summer of CDs

It's the morning after the day from hell, and I can't say how today is going to turn out. But I've done my bitchin', so let's talk music.

I've got this handy dandy little contraption called an iPod. Like the internet, I used to think this thing was the best invention ever. All my music in my pocket? Hellz yeah! What's not to like?

They should put on the iPod package that having one can cause ADD. No, seriously, it's true. I have music ADD now, thanks to my iPod. I spend more time clicking through songs than I do actually listening to them.

My brother is a music junkie, and he always gives me CDs. He gave me several (all by local Minnesota artists) for my birthday, and then once he went back to Minneapolis I gathered up all the CDs I've collected in recent years, and I've been listening to them. Because I wasn't listening to them. They were just sitting around in a Trader Joe's bag, which is this thing I do. I collect things and then just let them hang out. Anyway, these days I find it infinitely more satisfying to listen to a CD, start to finish, than I do to listen to my iPod. I suppose it's just a simplicity thing - that, and the fact that the CDs come with artwork, which is so much a part of the experience of music, and I actually forgot about that.

Anyway, it's going to take me forever to listen to what I've got. Which is a good thing because we have no money to keep the new music rolling in. But I love - seriously, LOVE - how I can discover (or re-discover) an album I've had for a long time. Which is what has happened to me this summer with Belle & Sebastian.

I burned a B&S CD from my brother when he came to visit last summer. Like everything else, it ended up in that Trader Joe's bag while I traipsed around scrolling through my iPod and not actually listening to anything. On a whim, this was the album I put in the CD player in Charlie's room one morning last month, and it's stayed there pretty consistently since. It's a fucking fantastic album! When the CD began skipping, I began my earnest search through local record stores to get an actual copy of it. But apparently it's not going to be in stock anytime soon, so I downloaded it.

I love it. It's amazing. It's my album of the summer.

But then there's this one. It's one of the CDs my brother gave me for my birthday, and out of the whole stack, it was the last one I listened to. The artwork is awesome:



Contrary to what I originally thought, this CD is also a fun summer album. Really quirky but simple at the same time. I wake up every morning with this song in my head, and it really is a nice way to start the day.

My iPod is going to stick around, this I know. I have all my music from my old piece of crap computer on it. But I like how I've come to reclaim the experience of listening to music because I've turned back to the CD. The only thing that would make me happier is a record player and some vinyl. Lots and lots of vinyl.